To the Central Committee of the R.S.D.L.P.

Written: Written on August 30 (September 12), 1917
Published:
First published in Pravda No. 250, November 7, 1920.
Published according to the manuscript.
Source:Lenin
Collected Works,
Progress Publishers,
1977,
Moscow,
Volume 25,
pages 289-293.
Translated:Transcription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:
Lenin Internet Archive.
2002
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• README

It is possible that these lines will come too late, for
events are developing with a rapidity that sometimes makes one’s head
spin. I am writing this on Wednesday, August 30, and the recipients will
read it no earlier than Friday, September 2. Still, on chance, I consider
it my duty to write the following.

The Kornilov revolt is a most unexpected (unexpected at such a moment
and in such a form) and downright unbelievably sharp turn in events.

Like every sharp turn, it calls for a revision and change of tactics.
And as with every revision, we must be extra-cautious not to become
unprincipled.

It is my conviction that those who become unprincipled are people who
(like Volodarsky) slide into defencism or (like other Bolsheviks) into a
bloc with the S.R.s, into supporting the Provisional
Government. Their attitude is absolutely wrong and unprincipled. We shall
become defencists only after the transfer of power to the
proletariat, after a peace offer, after the secret
treaties and ties with the banks have been broken—only
afterwards. Neither the capture of Riga nor the capture of
Petrograd will make us defencists. (I should very much like Volodarsky
to read this.) Until then we stand for a proletarian revolution, we are
against the war, and we are no defencists.

Even now we must not support Kerensky’s government. This
is unprincipled. We may be asked: aren’t we going to fight against
Kornilov? Of course we must! But this is not the same thing; there is a
dividing Line here, which is being stepped over by some Bolsheviks who fall
into
compromise and allow themselves to be carried away by the
course of events.

We shall fight, we are fighting against Kornilov, just as
Kerensky’s troops do, but we do not support Kerensky. On
the contrary, we expose his weakness. There is the difference. It is
rather a subtle difference, but it is highly essential.and must not be
forgotten.

We are changing the form of our struggle against Kerensky.
Without in the least relaxing our hostility towards him, without taking
back a single word said against him, without renouncing the task of
overthrowing him, we say that we must take into account the
present situation. We shall not overthrow Kerensky right now. We shall
approach the task of fighting against him in a different way,
namely, we shall point out to the people (who are fighting against
Kornilov) Kerensky’s weakness and vacillation. That
has been done in the past as well. Now, however, it has become the
all-important thing and this constitutes the change.

The change, further, is that the all-important thing now has
become the intensification of our campaign for some kind of “partial
demands” to be presented to Kerensky: arrest Milyukov, arm the
Petrograd workers, summon the Kronstadt, Vyborg and Helsingfors troops to
Petrograd, dissolve the Duma, arrest Rodzyanko, legalise the transfer of
the landed estates to the peasants, introduce workers’ control over
grain and factories, etc., etc. We must present these demands not only to
Kerensky, and not so much to Kerensky, as to the workers, soldiers
and peasants who have been carried away by the course of the
struggle against Kornilov. We must keep up their enthusiasm,
encourage them to deal with the generals and officers who have declared for
Kornilov, urge them to demand the immediate transfer of land to
the peasants, suggest to them that it is necessary to arrest
Rodzyanko and Milyukov, dissolve the Duma, close down Rech and
other bourgeois papers, and institute investigations against them. The
“Left” S.R.s must be especially urged on in this direction.

It would be wrong to think that we have moved farther away from the task
of the proletariat winning power. No.
We have come very close to it,
not directly, but from the side. At the moment we must
campaign not so much directly against Kerensky, as indirectly
against him, namely, by demanding a more and more active, truly
revolutionary war against Kornilov. The development of this war alone can
lead us to power, but we must speak of this its little as
possible in our propaganda (remembering very well that even tomorrow events
may put power into our hands, and then we shall not relinquish it). It
seems to me that this should be passed on in a letter (not in the papers)
to the propagandists, to groups of agitators and propagandists, and to
Party members in general. We must relentlessly fight against phrases about
the defence of the country, about a united front of revolutionary
democrats, about supporting the provisional Government, etc., etc., since
they are just empty phrases. We must say: now is the time for
action; you S.R. and Menshevik gentlemen have long since worn
those phrases threadbare. Now is the time for action; the war
against Kornilov must be conducted in a revolutionary way, by drawing the
masses in, by arousing them, by inflaming them (Kerensky is afraid
of the masses, afraid of the people). In the war against the
Germans, action is required right now; immediate and
unconditional peace must be offered on precise terms. If this
is done, either a speedy peace can be attained or the war can be
turned into a revolutionary war; if not, all the Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries remain lackeys of imperialism.

P.S. Having read six issues of
Rabochy,[1]after this was
written, I must say that our views fully coincide. I heartily welcome the
splendid editorials, press review and articles by V. M—n and
Vol—y. As to Volodarsky’s speech, I have read his letter to the
editors, which likewise “eliminates” my reproaches. Once more,
best wishes and greetings!

Notes

[1]Rabochy (The Worker)—Central Organ of the Bolshevik Party
published daily from August 25 (September 7) to September 2 (15),
1917, instead of Pravda, closed down by the Provisional
Government. Twelve issues were published in all (including extras).